Today Apple detailed the next major versions of its two most popular computing platforms: iOS and iPadOS 14. While the list of new features in these releases may not be as long as in some years, each update nonetheless has a lot to offer. From Home screen enhancements to tons of app upgrades spanning nearly every system app, plus the new Translate app and Siri improvements, Apple Pencil handwriting features, emoji search (finally!) and more, the iPhone and iPad are being refined this year in a variety of ways.
Here’s our in-depth overview of all the most important updates.
It’s WWDC week, and while we’ve been deprived the pleasure of meeting up in person this year, Apple’s OS updates are rolling forward like always. In this morning’s keynote address, Apple VP of Technology Kevin Lynch announced the latest version of the Apple Watch operating system. watchOS 7 isn’t as dramatic as some past releases have been, but it does introduce some excellent new features including sleep tracking, multiple distinct complications from the same app, a Shortcuts app, and new workout types. We’ll dive into all the features in depth below.
Every time Apple holds a keynote event, the company shares a variety of numbers related to things like user counts for certain products, software performance improvements, and customer satisfaction. With the company announcing the future of key platforms like iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, there was unsurprisingly a lot of data mentioned at today’s WWDC event.
We’ve collected some of the most interesting numbers shared on-stage during the keynote and on Apple’s product pages:
iOS and iPad OS
Siri knows 20 times more facts than 3 years ago
Messages has seen a 40% increase in messages sent and a 2x increase in group messages
Memoji include over 20 new headwear and hairstyles
There are 3 new Memoji stickers: hug, fist bump, and blush
There are over 1 million apps designed for the iPad
There has been a 1000x GPU performance improvement from the first to most recent iPad Pro
watchOS
There are over 20,000 Apple Watch apps
The Workout app has been renamed Fitness and has added 3 new exercises (Dance, Core, and Functional Strength
The Mac and macOS
Safari on the Mac is 50% faster than Chrome at loading frequently visited websites
The Mac Developer Transition Kit includes
an A12Z processor
512GB SSD
16GB RAM
The Mac transition to Apple Silicon will take 2 years
All The Rest
There are now 23 million developers
CarPlay is available in 97% of US cars and 80% of cars worldwide
Users have created 200 million Sign In with Apple accounts
Kayak says its users are 2 times more likely to sign up with Sign In with Apple
Apple has shipped 2 billion Apple-designed systems on a chip
Despite moving to an online format this year, Apple kicked off WWDC as usual with a keynote announcing details on the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and more. This year’s keynote brought a bunch of big announcements and some surprises too, like ARM Macs, a redesigned macOS, iOS and iPadOS widgets, the App Library, App Clips, new Pencil and AirPods features, watchOS face sharing, sleep tracking, and new workouts, and a lot more.
The full keynote video is available now on Apple’s website, Apple’s TV app, and in its Developer app. If you missed the live stream or want to re-watch certain segments you’ve got more ways to do that than ever before.
Since the first day that the App Store threw open its virtual doors, Readdle has been there, providing customers with category-defining productivity apps.
Those apps, including Readdle’s current lineup of Spark (iOS and Mac), PDF Expert, Calendars, Scanner Pro, and Documents, are beloved by users worldwide, having been downloaded over 140 million times. Readdle’s apps have garnered multiple awards and recognition from Apple and been covered by every major tech news outlet. It’s a storied history of an independent company of 190 people dedicated to helping customers be more productive and efficient by unlocking the power of technology.
Based in Ukraine and with an office in Berlin, Readdle is continually innovating and exploring new ways to solve its users’ problems. For example, the company was at the forefront of implementing drag and drop functionality between its suite of apps on the iPad before it was a system feature. The company has also pioneered collaborative, team-based email with Spark and cutting-edge PDF editing tools with PDF Expert across all of Apple’s platforms.
Just as critical as its transformative technology, though, is Readdle’s commitment to user trust. Unlike many of its competitors, Readdle doesn’t rely on ads in its apps, which are notoriously privacy-hostile.
With over a decade of experience on the App Store, Readdle isn’t sitting still. Its five flagship apps continue to evolve and improve. New powerful features and design changes are on the horizon for each of its products.
Whether you’re new to Readdle’s apps or simply haven’t tried them recently, now is a great time to download them on any of Apple’s platforms. This week, you’ll hear more about Spark, which brings the power of collaboration to bear on the age-old problem of managing email messages, and PDF Expert, a unique way to read, annotate, and edit PDFs. However, be sure to also try Calendars, which was recently updated with video conferencing integration, Scanner Pro, which The New York Times described as the best mobile scanner app, and Documents, an all-in-one file manager, media player, and downloader.
With Readdle, your essential productivity needs are fulfilled with innovative apps you can trust. Download Spark (iOS and Mac), PDF Expert, Calendars, Scanner Pro, and Documents today on the App Store.
Our thanks to Readdle for sponsoring all of our WWDC coverage here and on AppStories this week.
Hey is a new approach to email that was launched earlier this week by Basecamp. The service, which comes with its own hey.com email address, has a number of unique features for managing messages with an emphasis on screening tools. Hey does not, however, allow you to use its client app with other email services like Gmail, which is important to keep in mind.
Equally important to this story as it unfolded over the past several days is the fact that Hey does not offer an In-App Purchase for its service. The service is available from Basecamp only. As a result, if you download Hey’s iOS app, but have not yet purchased a license from Basecamp, the app doesn’t do anything except request your Hey login credentials.
The service launched on Monday with access provided via the web and native Windows, Android, Linux, Mac, and iOS apps. At the same time, Hey was being launched, an update to its iOS app, which fixed bugs, was rejected by Apple. The timing is unclear, but TechCrunch reports that Hey’s Mac app was rejected too.
It’s just about time for WWDC to start, and the MacStories team has been busy preparing for a lineup of expanded coverage next week.
As in past years, our coverage will begin with Apple’s keynote presentation. On MacStories, you’ll find in-depth coverage of Apple’s announcements, overviews of OS updates and any new hardware, and roundups of everything happening throughout the week. You’ll also get the kind of details that aren’t widely reported as the team combs through session videos, social media, and other sources.
AppStories is playing an expanded role in our coverage this year, and we’re bringing our new weekly show, MacStories Unwind, along for the ride too. Federico and I will record special episodes of AppStories that we’ll release Tuesday though Friday covering the WWDC keynote, State of the Union presentation, session videos, and more, plus we’ll publish usual Friday episode of Unwind where we’ll wrap up the week’s most important stories and discuss what it all means.
You can follow along with all of the MacStories, AppStories, and Unwind coverage on our WWDC 2020 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2020 RSS feed.
Finally, we’ll send a special issue of MacStories Weekly to Club MacStories members one day later than usual on Saturday, June 27th. The issue will be packed with WWDC-themed features and our thoughts on everything revealed. The same day we’ll also release a special episode of MacStories Unplugged, our Club-only podcast, with an inside look at the week gone by.
If you’re not a member of Club MacStories, you can join here.
To recap, stay tuned to MacStories, our shows, and the Club for a full week of WWDC coverage:
Monday - Friday
Continuous Keynote, State of the Union, and session coverage on MacStories
Tuesday - Friday
Daily episodes of AppStories covering all of Apple’s announcements big and small
One of my favorite podcast clients, Castro, debuted a big update today that adds a host of Siri commands and strong Shortcuts support.
There are now 30 requests you can make of Castro through Siri, which can access all the world’s open podcasts. We know it can be hard to remember them all, so we made a handy reference guide in Settings → Siri where you can find what you’re looking for to make your day a little easier.
Besides the wide extent of possible commands in Castro, what’s especially impressive is the guide referenced above: Castro’s team has built an excellent Siri Guide and a related in-app Shortcuts Gallery, both of which are accessible via settings and highlight simply and beautifully what all is possible with Siri and Shortcuts.
Castro’s Siri Guide and Shortcuts Gallery.
Discovery is one of the biggest challenges I’ve found with apps that support Siri and Shortcuts, as apps seldom make a list available of all supported voice commands and actions. With both Siri and Shortcuts, I’ve struggled in the past to find great podcast-related uses for these features, but Castro solved that problem for me.
On the Siri front, skipping chapters and managing my queue via voice works great. With Shortcuts, Castro offers some great pre-built shortcuts that do things like import your full Apple Podcasts library, clear all your queued episodes, subscribe to a new show even when you don’t have a proper Castro link, and more. While it’s always nice having the tools to build something custom, as someone who isn’t a heavy Shortcuts tinkerer I appreciate the work put in by Castro’s team to offer users extra functionality with minimal effort.
